Will Healthcare Ever See The Forest For The Trees?

That phrase is thought to date back as far as 1546, and it seems as if the U.S. healthcare system still can’t figure out the meaning.

If you run a system eyes to the ground, wrapped up in the details of the “business of healthcare”, you may catch a glimpse of a tree here and there.

If you never stop, step back and may I suggest think about what we are doing in healthcare, in order to gain a little perspective, then you will probably miss the fact that you are walking through a beautiful forest.

Today’s healthcare should be an amazing experience for a patient. Often times it is not.

Today’s healthcare should be an amazing and rewarding experience for the provider of healthcare. Often times it is not.

Today I offer up a challenge to see that beautiful forest for the trees.

It can only happen if you the patient, as well as the provider, chooses to stop, think, and then proceed in a partnership to restore your health. Both must be willing and able participants in this journey to a better healthcare system.

An example:

About six weeks ago I treated a patient with PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). This is an incredibly innovative procedure using your body’s own healing cells to orchestrate healing of injured tissues that are not able to heal by their own effort.

This particular patient had significant knee pain that was affecting her quality of life. She was always cautious with her gait, eyes to the ground, looking for the slightest obstacle in her path that may upset the knee.

It had also become so bothersome she could no longer participate in playing competitive badminton – one of her passions in life. Being active is part of her identity, as she was active in just about every sport there is throughout life. Thinking about sitting on the sidelines was not an option she wanted to consider.

However, in order to stay on the court, it had gotten to the point where she was dependent on anti-inflammatory medications just to get out there, and she also paid for it afterwards with significant escalation of pain for a couple of days.

About a week ago I saw her in follow-up and to proceed with a second treatment.

What she told me was incredible.

What she told me was the reason why I do what I do.

What she told me:

“For the first time in a very long time I noticed that there were actually trees on the walk I take “

No longer did she have to focus on the ground immediately in front of her feet, fearful of stumbling, or possibly injuring the knee further.

For the first time in a long time, she could enjoy the surrounding scenery of that walk.

In this case, and especially for her, looking at the trees was not such a bad thing after all.

You have a choice.

To be stuck in the grind of the healthcare system, staring at the bleak, desolate landscape in front of you.

Or, to set your feet on a pathway that you can start to the see the trees, and eventually the beautiful forest again – for the trees.

Learn more about this incredible, minimally invasive, and non-surgical treatment for knee pain by clicking here.